Prologue
"Wow, what a beautiful day for a hike," Sarah laughed, her voice a playful bird in spring. But it was not spring—it was winter, and the hills were blanketed with white, the sun was out, and every crystal that laid asleep on the ground seemed to sparkle and smile at the sky.
"Yes, it is," Haru nodded, smiling back at his girlfriend. He met her when he was studying abroad in America. Now he was working as a pediatrician in Tokyo. He softly pat the box in his coat pocket, and walked on, up the hill.
At last they scaled the top, looking down and around the area just outside of Tokyo. The pale face of the sun, the powder blue of the sky, and a forest of white below.
"Wow, the view is beautiful!" Sarah exclaimed, scanning the horizon. But when she saw the bench next to the lone tree at the hill, she walked toward it immediately, dropping down with a sigh. "I'm so tireeeddd."
Haru followed her, watching her face in the reluctant sunshine, Sarah's eyes closed and breathing slow, peaceful. He bent down and pulled the box out of his pocket.
Sarah opened her eyes to see him on one knee, a small box opened with a diamond ring poised in the middle, its diamond like the glimmering, smiling, snow. And she smiled back.
"Will you marry me?" he asked, cheeks pink as cherry blossoms. It would only be a couple of months before they would begin to bloom.
"Yes," she said, a single tear rolling down her cheek. "Yes, of course I will."
They clapsed their hands together, embraced, and kissed.
For a while they sat there, and when they were done resting they decided it was time to go back down.
"Well, going downhill is much easier than going up," Sarah nodded, watching the ring on her slender finger.
"Race you there," Haru said playfully, and took off down the hill.
"Hey, no fair!" Sarah protested. "You got a head start!" But she went after him, both felt like small children again in a world full of wonder and delight and dreams.
Panting, Sarah finally caught up. Haru beat her down the hill. They paused for breath.
"Hey, what's that?" Haru spoke, breaking the silence as he stood up straight to look ahead. He walked over near a garden covered in snow.
Sarah followed, thinking the garden would be much more pleasant in the spring. She grabbed Haru's hand, and became curious herself at the oddly shaped lump of snow near that one tree...
When they reached it, Haru carefully wiped snow from the surface of the lump. And he felt hair.
The blood rushed from his face. "Oh my god."
"What is it-- ah!" she gasped, also growing pale. A breeze blew softly, snow cast aside from two faces, pale in the snow.